2008–09 GP2 Asia Series

For the main series, see 2009 GP2 Series.

The 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season was the second season of the GP2 Asia Series. It began on 18 October 2008 and ended on 26 April 2009 and consisted of eleven races at six events.

2008–09 GP2 Asia Series

Drivers' Champion: Kamui Kobayashi
Teams' Champion: DAMS

Previous

2008

Next

2009–10

Support series:
Speedcar Series

Alex Yoong driving for Qi-Meritus Mahara at the 2008 Chinese GP2 Asia Series round.

Season summary

All teams from the 2008 GP2 Series season except for Racing Engineering took part in the competition, with the thirteenth slot being filled by Qi-Meritus Mahara. The reigning champion Romain Grosjean did not defend his title.

Kamui Kobayashi clinched the title with a fourth place at the penultimate race in Bahrain. 8 different winners were in 12 races: Kamui Kobayashi become champion, after Japanese won in two consecutive feature races at Dubai Autodrome, and at Bahrain International Circuit.

Diego Nunes won the last two feature races at Sepang International Circuit, and at Bahrain International Circuit. Roldán Rodríguez wins in first race of the season. Nico Hülkenberg, Luiz Razia, Vitaly Petrov, Davide Valsecchi, and Sergio Pérez each other won one race.

Teams and drivers

All of the teams used the Dallara GP2/05 chassis with Renault-badged 4.0 litre (244 cu in) naturally-aspirated Mecachrome V8 engines order and with tyres supplied by Bridgestone.

Team	No.	Driver	Rounds
ART Grand Prix	1	Sakon Yamamoto[1]	All
	2	Nelson Philippe[2]	1
		Pastor Maldonado[3]	2, 5–6
		Nico Hülkenberg[4]	3–4
Trust Team Arden[lower-alpha 1] (1–2) Arden International Motorsport[lower-alpha 1] (3–6)	3	Luiz Razia[5]	All
	4	Mika Mäki[6]	1
		Renger van der Zande[7]	2
		Edoardo Mortara[8]	3–6
Barwa International Campos Team	5	Vitaly Petrov[9]	All
	6	Sergio Pérez[2]	All
DAMS	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio[2]	All
	8	Kamui Kobayashi[2]	All
GFH Team iSport	9	Giedo van der Garde[10]	All
	10	Hamad Al Fardan[11]	All
Super Nova Racing	11	Javier Villa[5]	All
	12	James Jakes[2]	All
Fisichella Motor Sport International	14	Andreas Zuber[2][lower-alpha 2]	1–2
		Rodolfo González[12]	3–6
	15	Kevin Chen[2][lower-alpha 3]	All
Durango	16	Davide Valsecchi[13]	All
	17	Carlos Iaconelli[14]	1
		Michael Dalle Stelle[15]	2–6
My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara	18	Alex Yoong[16]	1–2
		Marco Bonanomi[17]	3–6
	19	Earl Bamber[18]	1–3
		Álvaro Parente[19]	4–6
Piquet GP	20	Roldán Rodríguez[20]	All
	21	Diego Nunes[21]	All
DPR	22	Michael Herck[22]	All
	23	Yuhi Sekiguchi[22]	1
		Giacomo Ricci[23]	2–6
BCN Competición*	24	Hiroki Yoshimoto[2]	1
	25	Luca Filippi[24]	1
Ocean Racing Technology*	24	Yelmer Buurman[25]	2–5
		Karun Chandhok[26]	6
	25
		Fabrizio Crestani[25]	2–6
Trident Racing	26	Giacomo Ricci[2]	1
		Alberto Valerio[23]	2
		Frankie Provenzano[27]	3–4
		Ricardo Teixeira[28]	5–6
	27	Chris van der Drift[2]	1–2
		Adrián Vallés[27]	3
		Davide Rigon[29]	4–6

* – Team was known as BCN Competición at round one in Shanghai, before Tiago Monteiro bought over the team's assets and renamed it as Ocean Racing Technology.^[30]

Calendar

On 12 July, GP2 Series organisers announced a provisional calendar for their second season. Unlike the first season of the GP2 Asia Series, this season will start prior to the new year, and be expanded to six events from the previous five. The Indonesian round has been dropped, while Bahrain earns a second event and Shanghai earns its first GP2 races. Shanghai will also host the official GP2 Asia Series test session prior to the start of the season.^[31]

The sprint race of the second round of the championship – at the Dubai Autodrome – was cancelled due to flooding.^[32]

On 17 December, an alteration was made to the calendar, with the Losail International Circuit in Qatar replacing the February meeting in Dubai. The meeting was also moved to February 12–14 because the original date on the calendar was unsuitable, due to MotoGP testing. This event introduced night racing to GP2, following the circuit's lead with MotoGP and its support classes and also Formula One's night race in Singapore.^[33]

Race Calendar

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Report
1	F	Shanghai International Circuit	18 October	Roldán Rodríguez	Kamui Kobayashi	Roldán Rodríguez	Piquet GP	Report
	S		19 October		Sakon Yamamoto[lower-alpha 4]	Davide Valsecchi	Durango
2	F	Dubai Autodrome	5 December	Kamui Kobayashi	Kamui Kobayashi	Kamui Kobayashi	DAMS	Report
	S		6 December	Race cancelled
3	F	Bahrain International Circuit	23 January	Nico Hülkenberg	Kamui Kobayashi	Kamui Kobayashi	DAMS	Report
	S		24 January		Diego Nunes[lower-alpha 5]	Sergio Pérez	Barwa International Campos Team
4	F	Losail International Circuit	13 February	Nico Hülkenberg	Álvaro Parente[lower-alpha 6]	Nico Hülkenberg	ART Grand Prix	Report
	S		14 February		Sergio Pérez	Sergio Pérez	Barwa International Campos Team
5	F	Sepang International Circuit	4 April	Jérôme d'Ambrosio[lower-alpha 7]	Javier Villa[lower-alpha 8]	Diego Nunes	Piquet GP	Report
	S		5 April		Álvaro Parente	Vitaly Petrov	Barwa International Campos Team
6	F	Bahrain International Circuit	25 April	Kamui Kobayashi[lower-alpha 9]	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Diego Nunes	Piquet GP	Report
	S		26 April		Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Luiz Razia	Arden International Motorsport

Championship standings

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers in the Feature race, and to the top 6 classified finishers in the Sprint race. The pole-sitter in the feature race will also receive two points, and one point is given to the driver who set the fastest lap inside the top ten in both the feature and sprint races. No extra points are awarded to the pole-sitter in the sprint race.

Point system for Feature Race Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   Pole   FL  Points 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 2 1

Point system for Sprint Race Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   FL  Points 6 5 4 3 2 1 1

Drivers' Championship

Pos Driver SHI DUB BHR LSL SEP BHR Points 1 Kamui Kobayashi 2 Ret 1 C 1 6 4 18 2 7 4 5 56 2 Jérôme d'Ambrosio 9 5 7 C 2 3 5 7 DNS DSQ 3 2 36 3 Roldán Rodríguez 1 6 3 C 6 23 Ret 17 4 12 2 Ret 35 4 Davide Valsecchi 8 1 2 C 5 2 6 5 8 3 16 Ret 34 5 Vitaly Petrov 5 Ret 5 C 10 12 3 2 6 1 19 11 28 6 Nico Hülkenberg 4 4 1 3 27 7 Sergio Pérez Ret 7 6 C 8 1 2 1 Ret 6 12 9 26 8 Diego Nunes 12 Ret Ret C 13 22 11 12 1 4 1 6 24 9 Sakon Yamamoto 3 14 8 C 17 11 Ret 14 12 Ret 6 4 13 10 Javier Villa 4 3 9 C 9 5 13 10 19 18 15 12 12 11 Edoardo Mortara 3 8 7 4 Ret 17 Ret 16 11 12 Giedo van der Garde 10 DNS 4 C 7 14 12 8 14 10 5 7 11 13 Luiz Razia Ret 17 10 C 14 9 8 6 Ret Ret 8 1 9 14 Earl Bamber 6 2 Ret C 11 7 8 15 Pastor Maldonado Ret C 7 2 Ret Ret 7 16 James Jakes Ret 11 12 C 22 Ret 9 9 3 Ret 10 14 7 17 Davide Rigon 14 15 Ret 13 7 3 6 18 Chris van der Drift 7 4 Ret C 5 19 Yelmer Buurman Ret C Ret 13 Ret DNS 5 11 4 20 Hamad Al Fardan 15 Ret Ret C 12 Ret Ret Ret 9 5 Ret 17 2 21 Álvaro Parente 17 16 11 9 Ret 13 1 22 Marco Bonanomi 20 10 16 11 Ret 14 14 8 0 23 Rodolfo González 16 Ret Ret 19 10 8 Ret Ret 0 24 Hiroki Yoshimoto Ret 8 0 25 Alex Yoong 14 9 Ret C 0 26 Karun Chandhok 9 Ret 0 27 Giacomo Ricci 13 Ret 13 C Ret 16 Ret 13 16 15 11 10 0 28 Fabrizio Crestani 14 C Ret 17 10 21 15 16 18 15 0 29 Mika Mäki Ret 10 0 30 Carlos Iaconelli 11 Ret 0 31 Renger van der Zande 11 C 0 32 Yuhi Sekiguchi Ret 12 0 33 Michael Herck 16 16 15 C 18 18 15 Ret 13 Ret 13 Ret 0 34 Nelson Philippe 17 13 0 35 Frankie Provenzano 15 15 19 20 0 36 Kevin Chen Ret 15 18 C 21 21 18 23 20 Ret Ret 18 0 37 Alberto Valerio 16 C 0 38 Ricardo Teixeira 17 19 17 Ret 0 39 Michael Dalle Stelle 17 C 19 20 20 22 18 20 Ret 19 0 40 Adrián Vallés Ret 19 0 – Andreas Zuber Ret Ret Ret C 0 – Luca Filippi Ret Ret 0 Pos Driver SHI DUB BHR LSL SEP BHR Points

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Other points position Blue Other classified position Not classified, finished (NC) Purple Not classified, retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrawn (WD) Text formatting Meaning Bold Pole position point(s) Italics Fastest lap point(s)

Notes:

• † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Teams' Championship

Pos Team Car No. SHI DUB BHR LSL SEP BHR Points 1 DAMS 7 9 5 7 C 2 3 5 7 DNS DSQ 3 2 92 8 2 Ret 1 C 1 6 4 18 2 7 4 5 2 Piquet GP 20 1 6 3 C 6 23 Ret 17 4 12 2 Ret 59 21 12 Ret Ret C 13 22 11 12 1 4 1 6 3 Barwa International Campos Team 5 5 Ret 5 C 10 12 3 2 6 1 19 11 54 6 Ret 7 6 C 8 1 2 1 Ret 6 12 9 4 ART Grand Prix 1 3 14 8 C 17 11 Ret 14 12 Ret 6 4 47 2 17 13 Ret C 4 4 1 3 7 2 Ret Ret 5 Durango 16 8 1 2 C 5 2 6 5 8 3 16 Ret 34 17 11 Ret 17 C 19 20 20 22 18 20 Ret 19 6 Trust Team Arden (1–2) Arden International Motorsport (3–6) 3 Ret 17 10 C 14 9 8 6 Ret Ret 8 1 20 4 Ret 10 11 C 3 8 7 4 Ret 17 Ret 16 7 Super Nova Racing 11 4 3 9 C 9 5 13 10 19 18 15 12 19 12 Ret 11 12 C 22 Ret 9 9 3 Ret 10 14 8 GFH Team iSport 9 10 DNS 4 C 7 14 12 8 14 10 5 7 13 10 15 Ret Ret C 12 Ret Ret Ret 9 5 Ret 17 9 Trident Racing 26 13 Ret 16 C 15 15 19 20 17 13 17 3 11 27 7 4 Ret C Ret 19 14 15 Ret 19 7 Ret 10 My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara 18 14 9 Ret C 20 10 16 11 Ret 14 14 8 9 19 6 2 Ret C 11 7 17 16 11 9 Ret 13 11 Ocean Racing Technology 24 Ret C Ret 13 Ret DNS 5 11 9 Ret 4 25 14 C Ret 17 10 21 15 16 18 15 12 Fisichella Motor Sport International 14 Ret Ret Ret C 16 Ret Ret 19 10 8 Ret Ret 0 15 Ret 15 18 C 21 21 18 23 20 Ret Ret 18 13 DPR 22 16 16 15 C 18 18 15 Ret 13 Ret 13 Ret 0 23 Ret 12 13 C Ret 16 Ret 13 16 15 11 10 14 BCN Competición 24 Ret 8 0 25 Ret Ret Pos Team Car No. SHI DUB BHR LSL SEP BHR Points

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Other points position Blue Other classified position Not classified, finished (NC) Purple Not classified, retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrawn (WD) Text formatting Meaning Bold Pole position point(s) Italics Fastest lap point(s)

Notes:

• † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Notes

1. Arden International competed under a Dutch licence.
2. Zuber is an Austrian driver who competed under an Emirati racing licence.
3. Chen is a Taiwan driver who competed under a United States racing licence.
4. Sakon Yamamoto set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap. Javier Villa^[34] was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
5. Diego Nunes set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap. Jérôme d'Ambrosio^[35] was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
6. Álvaro Parente set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap. Nico Hülkenberg^[36] was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
7. Jérôme d'Ambrosio set the fastest time in qualifying, but did not start due to gearbox problems. The pole position remained empty on the grid. Diego Nunes was the first driver on the grid in second place. d'Ambrosio is still considered to hold the pole position.
8. Javier Villa set the fastest lap, but did not finish in the top 10, so was ineligible to be the point-scorer for the fastest lap. James Jakes^[37] was the point-scorer instead for setting the fastest lap of those finishing in the top 10.
9. Jérôme d'Ambrosio recorded the fastest time in the time trial, but got a ten-place penalty after receiving a black flag in the previous Malaysian sprint race. Kamui Kobayashi was identified for the race pole position.

References

1. Sakon Yamamoto: official GP2 Asia driver of ART Archived 2008-10-09 at the Wayback Machine art-grandprix.com
2. Freeman, Glenn, ed. (October 2008). "Japan leads GP2 Asia charge". Autosport. 194 (3): 22–23.
3. "Maldonado to race for ART in 2009". autosport.com. 2008-11-10. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
4. "Hulkenberg takes pole on GP2 debut". Autosport.com. 2009-01-22. Archived from the original on 24 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
5. "Razia joins Arden, Villa to Super Nova". GPUpdate.net. 2008-10-02. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
6. "GP2: Trust Team Arden Confirm Mika Maki and Luiz Razia for GP2 Asia 2008/09". Archived from the original on 2008-10-13. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
7. "Van der Zande to replace Maki in Dubai". GPUpdate.net. 2008-10-27. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
8. "Mortara signs for Arden". autosport.com. 2009-01-21. Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
9. Campos Racing Archived 2008-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
10. "Van der Garde joins iSport for Asia Series". GPUpdate.net. 2008-10-02. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
11. "Al Fardan joins GFH iSport". GPUpdate.net. 2008-09-23. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
12. "Gonzalez joins Fisichella for GP2 Asia". autosport.com. 2009-01-21. Archived from the original on 25 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
13. "Durango and Valsecchi extend contract". GPUpdate.net. 2008-09-23. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
14. GP2: Iaconelli to team with valsecchi at shanghai durango.it
15. "Durango signs teen for Asia campaign". crash.net. 2008-12-01. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
16. My Team Qi-Meritus.Mahara signs Alex Yoong
17. "Bonanomi replaces Yoong at Meritus". autosport.com. 2009-01-17. Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
18. GP2: Meritus confirms Kiwi to second seat crash.net
19. "Parente joins Meritus for Qatar". autosport.com. 2009-02-11. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-11.
20. GP2: Piquet GP & Rodríguez together for GP2 Asia and GP2 Main Archived 2008-10-21 at the Wayback Machine Piquet GP official site – 23.09.2008.
21. GP2: Diego Nunes second car in GP2 Asia Series Archived 2008-10-21 at the Wayback Machine Piquet GP official site – 07.10.2008.
22. "Sekiguchi joins DPR for Asia campaign". crash.net. 2008-10-15. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
23. "Driver changes aplenty in Dubai". crash.net. 2008-12-04. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-04.
24. GP2: Filippi back with BCN Archived 2008-12-07 at the Wayback Machine crash.net
25. "Ocean sign Crestani as second driver". autosport.com. 2008-12-02. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
26. "08/09 GP2 Asia Series – Round 6". GP2 Asia Series. 2009-04-23. Archived from the original on May 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
27. "Trident names new pairing". crash.net. 2009-01-21. Archived from the original on August 1, 2012. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
28. "08/09 GP2 Asia Series – Round 5". GP2 Asia Series. 2009-04-02. Archived from the original on May 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
29. "Rigon replaces Valles at Trident". autosport.com. 2009-02-10. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
30. "Tiago Monteiro confirms the acquisition of GP2 team". tiagomonteiro.com. 2008-11-27. Retrieved 2008-11-27.^{[permanent dead link]}
31. "GP2 Asia 2008–09 Calendar". UpdateF1.com. 2008-07-12. Archived from the original on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
32. "Floods force cancellation of Dubai race". autosport.com. 2008-12-06. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
33. "Qatar night race for Asia Series". autosport.com. 2008-12-17. Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
34. "Sprint race - GP2 Asia: Chinese 2008". Pitpass.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
35. "Sprint race - GP2 Asia: Bahrain 2009". Pitpass.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
36. "Feature race - GP2 Asia: Qatar 2009". Pitpass.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
37. "Feature race - GP2 Asia: Malaysian 2009". Pitpass.com. Archived from the original on 7 April 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2022.

External links

• GP2 Series official website
• GP2 Asia Series fansite